(TibetanReview.net, Jan21’16) – Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has left for the United States on Jan 19 to undergo a routine check up. “I will go thorough medical check up. Then if they find any problems, they can carry out treatment,” AP Jan 19 quoted the Dalai Lama a saying.

Speaking at the airport, the Dalai Lama also said he had a minor problem in his eye, but was not ill otherwise, reported ANI news service Jan 19. The report added that the Dalai Lama expected to be back in India in the second week of March.

Earlier in the day, his office said in a statement, “His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, is scheduled to undergo prostate treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.”

During a routine medical check up at the same hospital in late Sep 2015, the Dalai Lama cancelled all his foreign tours to take complete rest for several weeks on doctors’ advice. Nevertheless, he did maintain an active schedule in India, including giving religious teachings in the south over December-January.

The Dalai Lama will be “resting from the end of Jan 2016 for approximately one month” after the treatment, his office further said, adding, “his regular engagement schedule will resume in March.”

The 80-year-old Tibetan leader had earlier, in 2008, undergone a gall bladder surgery in New Delhi.